Almost Unheard
by Uozumi
Summary: About ten years after the events in Directions, Joanna ends up on the USS Enterprise when the ship answers a fledgling colony’s distress signal.


**Fandom** _Star Trek AOS_  
**Character(s)/Pairing(s)** Christine Chapel, James Kirk, Joanna McCoy, Leonard McCoy, Spock; no pairing  
**Genre** Drama/Family/Sequel  
**Rating** PG  
**Word Count** 2349  
**Disclaimer** Star Trek c. Paramount, CBS, NBC, Roddenberry  
**Summary** About ten years after the events in Directions, Joanna ends up on the USS Enterprise when the ship answers a fledgling colony's distress signal.  
**Warning(s)** none  
**Notes** So, after the wonderful theneopetmaster read _Directions_, she asked for a sequel to the story. However, I had some major logistical problems with the original prompt, so I decided to modify it. I hope you enjoy this, darling. I am so fortunate and glad to know you. I hope you had a wonderful birthday and have a fortunate and prosperous sixteenth year.  
**Dedication** This is dedicated to theneopetmaster on DA who has been a wonderful and loyal reviewer. When I heard it was her birthday, I knew I had to write her something.

_**Almost Unheard**_

Her blue eyes fluttered open and then she went to sit up, but a gentle hand stopped her. "You're on the USS Enterprise," a women with her curly hair pulled back assured her. "You are safe."

"But the others – "

"We managed to save some," the nurse admitted. She began to analyze the biobed readout. "You did well, or we would not have been able to save as many as we have." She looked over her shoulder and then situated the covers over her charge. "I'm Christine. Sit tight and I'll get the doctor." Her lips quirked into a secretive smile and then she left the young woman.

Taking a deep breath, Joanna slowly sat up. She felt mildly dizzy but after a bit of sitting, the dizziness ebbed away. Her dark auburn hair was down and hung like a veil, long enough to almost touch the biobed. Joanna ran her hands over her face and rubbed it. She was a nurse now and working a remote outpost in space. The colony she was helping had found itself in an outbreak of a rather nasty pox and then afterwards a famine wracked the area they chose to colonize. People were dying before her eyes. The colony had sent many distress messages but they had started to think no one had heard. The last thing Joanna remembered was exhaustion and lying down for the first time in days on a cot in the medical facility. How she got aboard the Enterprise, she could not even begin to imagine.

A hand rested on her shoulder and the twenty-something looked up and felt her lips waiver. She was a grown working woman with so much accomplished behind her, yet seeing her father standing beside her just made her tear up. "Dad…" she murmured and then hugged him tightly. Months of stress and hardship released and she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Hey now," McCoy wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair. When she broke away, he observed the PADD Chapel had left him. He frowned and then set the PADD aside and looked at her. She was thinner and her skin was whiter than he remembered ever seeing it. She ran a hand through her hair getting her long bangs out of her face and looked at him, choosing not to hide behind her mass of hair.

"How many are left?" she asked before he could comment on her ailments. She had been their nurse for over a year now and had fought the disease and famine alongside them for months now.

"Twenty," McCoy answered. If he had his way twenty would make it, but he knew there were three critical cases that might not even if he had all the healing power available.

Joanna pulled the blanket up over herself to gain warmth from it. The colony had started at one hundred people and had grown by four until everything began to unravel. "I know you'll be able to do more for them than I could," she said and did not look away. She had done everything she could and she knew the Enterprise could do so much more. She reached out and took McCoy's hand, squeezing it. "I'm going to be fine, Dad. I'm in good hands now."

He squeezed her hand back and kissed her cheek. "You need to lie down and rest. You're a patient here, not a nurse."

"I know," she sighed and lied down like a good patient.

Hours later found Joanna sitting up again at her bed. She had the PADD attached to the bed up and was reading from the ship's library under dim light. When she closed her eyes, she relieved the past two moths, the hardest of all the months at the colony. Sometimes she woke with a start and almost got out of bed to check on fevers and the invalid. Sometimes she caught herself instantly before she moved from the bed, but sometimes she did not notice she was out of the dirt-floored building until her bare feet touched cold tile. Sometimes science personnel passed by the doorway she could see from her bed. Apparently, the medical lab was needed for some science experiments because it had some special expensive equipment that was too expensive to have duplicates.

"Your dad's going to hit the roof," a voice intoned from the doorway.

Joanna looked up and then turned the viewscreen aside. "He'll live."

Kirk walked over and looked around the room. There were several refugees still in biobeds. "It's been a while since Sickbay was this crowded."

"Someone leaves every day for the guest quarters," Joanna answered. "The capabilities of this sickbay are amazing."

"I can't take credit for that," Kirk admitted. He reached out and handed her something. "This place can get really boring, so you might want to borrow this."

Joanna took the book from him and read over the cover. "This is that Klingon playwright, isn't it?" She opened the book, looking over the play titles in the contents. Upon the interference of the Narada, alliances shifted with so many other things. Since the ship had fired upon both the Klingon Empire and the Federation, an uneasy and sometimes very tense truce existed between them. This had lead to a cultural exchange.

"I know your dad isn't into interstellar fiction, but I don't remember you ever complaining."

"I can take it or leave it," Joanna admitted. She set the book beside her. "I'll return it to you when I get out." She ran her hand through her hair to get it out of her eyes. "If dad ever lets me out."

"You talk like I'm keeping you tied to the biobed," McCoy's gruff voice intoned as he crossed the room. He checked over the readouts.

"I feel fine," Joanna noted, "and my color has come back. I've also gained some weight." She watched her father. "You at least can't justify keeping me more than one more night."

McCoy waved a hand through the air. "Let me double check this." After a bit of silence, he set the PADD down and looked her over. "I can release you now, but you will have to take it easy for a bit longer. Just like everyone else who has walked out of here," he noted when her mouth opened. He motioned with his head towards a room off to the side. "Nurse Chapel'll have something you can change into. Can't have you wandering the ship in that sickbay gown."

Joanna carefully slipped off the biobed and nodded. "Thanks, both of you." Then she disappeared into the changing room.

A few days later, McCoy was finally able to take enough of a break to join Joanna for a meal. They took to the officer's mess since it would be less crowded and they would be able to hear each other. The retrieved meals and McCoy led them to a table in the back out of the way. After a bit of small talk, Joanna set her fork aside. "I'm glad it was the Enterprise who came for us." She looked at her father. She noticed how there was flecks of gray already near his ears in his hair. His face was more wrinkled than last time she saw him, but his nails, teeth, and the whites of his eyes showed he cared for himself as much as anyone addicted to alcohol could. Joanna tilted her head and then asked, "How did you know to come for us?"

McCoy finished his sandwich. "I'm not sure if it's classified. I could ask Jim or maybe Spock." He wanted to tell her straight out, but he did not want to attract consequences.

"The Vulcan you mentioned sometimes," Joanna recalled. "I tried to ask Jim, but he wasn't able to stick around." She sipped her drink.

"Yeah, since we're heading to a starbase he has some things he has to do to get ready for it," McCoy answered. There was always the chance the ship would be in for a surprise inspection. Also, McCoy suspected even after over a decade, Kirk felt the need to have the best cleanest most efficient ship to prove himself in some way. Then McCoy looked up and motioned with his hand. "Hey, Spock, there's a seat empty over here."

Joanna blinked and then looked over her shoulder. A tall, lithe Vulcan approached and raised an eyebrow at her father. "I would think you would not want company in this situation," he stated.

McCoy pulled back the chair beside him. "Normally I wouldn't, but you can explain things that I can't." After Spock sat, he looked at Joanna and spoke, "Jo, this is Commander Spock," motioned between them, "Spock, this is my daughter Joanna."

"Mr. Elf!" It was out of Joanna's mouth before she realized she was even going to say it. Her hand moved over her mouth and her cheeks flushed. "Er…I mean…ah…"

McCoy's eyes widened a little. "'Mr. Elf…?'" It was all he could do not to laugh for his daughter's sake.

"We've met before," Joanna replied. "A long time ago."

Spock tilted his head minutely and looked at her. "Yes, we have."

McCoy looked between them, trying to recall when this could have possibly been.

At her father's expression, Joanna carefully smoothed out her skirt. "It was when I ran away from home, Dad." She took a deep breath, remembering meeting back up with him at the airport. She had caused so much worry and trouble. It had been a real wake up call at the time. "I was looking for you and he was helping."

"She wanted the location of the medical building if I remember correctly," Spock supplied.

"Then Jim came along and found me," Joanna answered, "so I never got Commander Spock's name."

McCoy leaned back in his seat. That had been one of the worst weeks in his life. It started with a losing game of hospital politics and culminated with the man who married his ex wife months after the divorce giving him a call out of the blue to tell him Joanna was missing and had been missing for two days. He decided to take the shuttle to Georgia to help the search and find his daughter only to receive a call from Kirk upon landing in Georgia telling him Joanna was at the academy.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Joanna reached out and touched his hand tentatively. "It was stupid."

"Now's not the time to talk about that," McCoy took her hand briefly. "You wanted to know how we found the colony was in trouble, right?"

"Oh! Right!" Joanna looked at Spock and took her hand back. "Can you tell me what happened, Commander?" She tried not to stare at Spock's ears while talking. "Or at least why it took so long? We've been sending distress signals for months."

Spock's ears twitched minutely and he looked up from his salad. He considered the question and his answer. "The signal was trapped in the star system. We passed through the area and intercepted the transmission faintly. Upon figuring out the transmission, the Enterprise arrived at the location of the communication." He paused and considered his phrasing or if he should say more. "The doctor, captain, and other crewmembers beamed down and it became apparent that there were people who needed medical attention and the appropriate procedure was followed." The tone of his voice indicated that his explanation was done.

"You went down?" Joanna looked at her father.

McCoy nodded. "It was a medical emergency. Jim wanted a doctor down with the landing party."

"Then…" Joanna frowned. "It must have been hard those days I was unconscious." She was not sure what else she could say. "Dad…"

McCoy cleared his throat. "You're awake now and that's the past." He could not imagine if Joanna had been like the two people they had rescued only to die. All the other survivors seemed to be on the way to a full recovery at their own individual paces.

Joanna looked at the chronometer on the wall and then her empty tray. "I want to stay, but I have to give my statement soon." She leaned over the table and kissed McCoy on the cheek. "I'll talk to you later, Dad." Then she reached out and touched Spock's arm. "It was good to see you again, Commander." Then she gathered up her tray and exited the mess.

A few minutes after Joanna had left the mess, McCoy glanced over at Spock. "Mr. Elf?"

Spock returned the glance and then finished drinking his water. "One cannot expect children to know everything."

The Enterprise only had a brief docking at the starbase to drop off the refugees and collect some minor supplies. Joanna stayed as long as she could until it was time for the last group to transport. Joanna turned to the men standing by the transport out of the way of those getting onto the platform. "Thank you for your help." She reached out and took Kirk's hands. "You're always looking out for me, just like an uncle." She squeezed his hands and then let them go to hug him. "I'm really lucky to know you." Kirk returned the hug and then the pair parted.

Joanna stepped over and embraced her father tightly. "I hope we don't have to wait years to see each other in person again."

"I hope so too," McCoy returned.

Joanna pulled back and smiled. "Thank you for everything." She squeezed his shoulders and then stepped away. "Love you."

"I love you too," McCoy returned. Then Joanna waved to them and got on the transport platform. Within a few minutes, she and the last of the survivors were gone.

McCoy turned away from the transport and exited the room. Kirk soon followed after talking to the transport chief briefly about the shipments. When Kirk caught up to McCoy in the hallway, he reached out and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, letting it linger before dropping his hand to his side.

**The End**


End file.
